This is a beautiful island surrounded by the reefs. (Check it out on Google Maps in Satellite image mode). I could not capture the whole of the island since I was in an airplane – but got the east edge of it. Just look at the difference in water colors. Reminds me of Eleuthera again!

Second atoll out of the three atolls in the Belizian Reef. This is where the Great Blue Hole is.

One out of the three atolls in the Belizian Reef

The romantic historical story would have been how we spotted a poor ship that got shipwrecked as it hit the shallow waters of the reef about a century back. The reality is that this 375 feet ship which was used as a cargo ship most of the time has been recently purposely sunk (after it outlived its purpose) so that corals can have a lively place to settle and grow off from and divers would have a fantastic spot to explore!

I liked the false historical story better 🙂

Incidentally, to give you an idea how clear the water is… the ship is actually completely under water!!

While flying to the Great Blue Hole,, I took this shot. This is basically the colors of the water around the reefs. As the water gets deeper, so does the hue.

Can you conceive of any shade of blue that Mother Nature has not provided in this simple shot?

What a beauty to sometimes just sit back and watch Mother Nature in its full glory!!

You remember my pictures from Eleuthera – the straight line dividing the dark blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean from the Caribbean Sea? Well, this one is almost a perfect circle!

The adventure of this morning was to fly over the Great Blue Hole! This is literally a sinkhole in the middle of the sea!

Around the end of the Ice Ages, a part of the earth collapsed (like Cenotes we saw in Mexico) and then as the ice melted and water kept filling up the earth, this part of the world became flooded with water. In the middle of fairly shallow waters with beautiful hues of sky blue, you have this sudden deep drop with dark blue water.

Interestingly, the first time divers went to the bottom of this sinkhole was less than four years back. Apparently, there is big layer of hydrogen sulphide that is sitting midway thru and there exists no life below it (no oxygen). But they did find a coke bottle, a GoPro and the remains of two human beings!

We stayed comfortably up from all that at about 5000 feet above sea level.

But what a grand view it was!!

One observation about The Ambergris Caye (the island we are in). There is one key difference we noticed in this Belizean island compared to every other Caribbean island we have been to. There are virtually no bugs!! And therefore virtually none of the predators – like lizards either. We did see one small iguana though.

First morning (yesterday), Sharmila and I came down to enjoy some coffee by the pool at around 8am. The first family I met, I asked “So, where are you visiting from?”
“Atlanta”
“Really? Where in Atlanta?”
“Roswell”
“Where in Roswell?”
“Next to the Roswell High School. Do you know the area?”
We let them know we are from Milton – about 5 miles away!!
What is the chance of coming to Belize and the first family we make friends with live within 5 miles from us? They could not have lived any closer…

WRONG!!

As we were standing there, another family came by.
I asked them too..
“So, where are you folks visiting from?”
“Atlanta”
Now the first family and we looked at each other! What is the chance of this happening?
“Where in Atlanta?”
“Milton”
“WHAT? Where in Milton?”
“Crooked Creek”
“We are on Summit Road. Literally a couple of miles away!!”

Two families and both in our backyard!!

That was not it.

Remember the picture of Sharmila and I with the “Secret Beach” sign? Well, turns out two ladies were returning the favor of us taking their pictures there before that. After that, again, as is my way to break the ice on vacation, I asked the two ladies where they were visiting from. Wouldn’t you know – they said “Atlanta”? This time a little further away from us – they were from the city.

And still we were not done!

We left land and went into the water. You probably saw the pictures of Sharmila and I drinking the pineapple drink sitting in a table out in the water. Presently, a group of tourists came by us and asked if we could take a picture of them.

“Sure.”
And as I took a few shots of them, I asked the usual question.
“Atlanta!”
“Us too!!”
“Where in Atlanta?”, one of the ladies asked.
“Alpharetta area.”
“04, 05, 09 or 22?” She asked.

It took me a second.
“Are you talking about zip codes? Then 04”.

In case you were wondering, Alpharetta area has the following 4 zip codes, 30004, 30005, 30009, 30022.
Why would anybody ask such a question?

Well, because she works in the US Postal Service and delivers mail in our area!!!

Is life cool or what?